


Watchful Eye

by Demytasse



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Affection, Developing Relationship, Drabble, Emotionally Repressed, Emotions, Established Relationship, Feelings, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, Introspection, M/M, Oneshot, People Watching, introspective izaya, supportive shizuo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 19:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16144169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demytasse/pseuds/Demytasse
Summary: Either Izaya knew the situation would end up in favour of the man’s wishes, or he waited for the resolution in hopes that it’d be worth the wait — positive, negative, or neither.Regardless, the easy read Izaya had of others was mesmerizing in action. Not as though Shizuo hadn’t witnessed it before, but to experience it alongside him was something else.---To which Shizuo discovers the primary reason that Izaya watches people.





	Watchful Eye

**Author's Note:**

> A little something that hit me the other day while I was introspective, myself. That and I was coming up with a drabble prompt for someone and this one accidentally resonated. Σ('∇' )՞
> 
> I needed something "short" to write in between my murderous edit of an old fic chapter and actually finishing the damn thing. So!

“You’re spending too much time people watching.”

Izaya dismissed the window at his left in tend of the disgruntled man across from him.

It seemed an innocuous comment without any tip of accusation. While it was intended to go without blame, there was marginal raise for concern based around Shizuo’s parfait, curiously untouched and drooped over the edge.

“That's subject to opinion. Define what _too much_ means to you, Shizu-chan.”

Dribbled cream alerted Shizuo of the state of his ignored dessert.

He licked a dollop off the back of his hand all the while fumbling his spoon to mix the contents, something akin of an elaborate set up for a solo shot of tequila or of a trendy concoction.

“You're here with me,” he knocked back a healthy spoonful.

“Ah. So really what you're saying is that I’m not paying enough attention to _you_.”

The statement was denied with pursed lips around his chew, as Izaya already prepped his answer without consideration for Shizuo to swallow.

“Then why does it bother you so much?” A bored delivery was executed with a cheap acting technique. Too emotional to be sincere, too intentional to be indifferent.

His head turned from the seat of his palm to catch sight of a teenager that brisked by, too lost in his headphones to be fazed by a posse of his peers that rudely gestured at him.

“Something’s up,” Shizuo’s spoon clattered against the empty diner glass.

Izaya scooched his biteless flan across the table towards the sweets aficionado.

Shizuo made no effort to play his indulgence coy in respect of Izaya's roundabout gift giving. He learned to accept that it represented his shy affection, only ever offered to their shared friend, a rambunctious duo, and naturally himself.

“You see those two over there?”

“Hu?” Caramel smudged the corner of his mouth as his bite became misaligned. “Where?”

“They're right in front of you.” Izaya directed with a nod.

“Don't be vague, Izaya, it's annoying.”

Without witness of Izaya’s dramatized eye roll, Shizuo searched for individuals that he knew nothing of their appearance. A chair was pushed back with a harsh screech mere seconds before his head was snatched up for coercion, forty-five degrees left and a smidgen upward.

“There, you unobservant dolt.”

Shizuo scoffed, but dropped his annoyance for Izaya's sake. Side-eyed, he watched the brunet regather his chair and waited for him to nestle upon his seat.

“Okay, why am I lookin’?”

Izaya squinted, “that guy’s been planning to ask the girl out for a while.”

“Do you know them--”

“The man, we’ll call him Kanda-san, will hesitate to ask Naegi-chan to dinner. Despite his best efforts, he’ll fail.”

“Izaya, are you making up a narrative?” 

A shush and a wave dismissed him, “just watch.”

The two in spy stood distantly close with posture only comfortable for acquaintances who sought to know each other better. Needless to say, the nerve wracked man wanted more than just her go-to answers as his focus was always on the woman even without him paying direct attention.

He removed a cell from his back pocket to casually check the time, a repeated task to steal a glance of the beautiful woman when he leaned opposite her to replace the phone. Occasionally, she’d catch him mid-act to present him with a sweet chuckle that bounced her shoulders in time with her delight.

Each time he was floored.

But those multiple exchanges only added up to be expired. Kanda, as predicted, had failed his mission upon Naegi indicating her leave while she pointed at a digitally lit clock on a nearby building.

In respect of the lady and his broken ego, he exaggerated the angle of his bow. While she waved away the nicety, he deepened the gesture with a more prominent bend at his waist; she puzzled her brow as he held it much longer than seemed necessary.

When he regained height, she hardly waited a beat to invade his space. A caress of his cheek, a chaste kiss, and a verbal exchange had Kanda almost too shocked to nod.

Though she casually bounded off, it was both who anxiously made sure that something was tapped on their phones.

“...wait…did she…”

Shizuo's mouth hung centimeters agape. Pulled by his curiosity, he turned to Izaya whose wistful smile was partially obstructed by the hand his chin rest upon.

Without a word, Shizuo and Izaya held a conversation of awe and satisfaction. Either Izaya knew the situation would end up in favour of the man’s wishes, or he waited for the resolution in hopes that it’d be worth the wait — positive, negative, or neither.

Regardless, the easy read Izaya had of others was mesmerizing in action. Not as though Shizuo hadn’t witnessed it before, but to experience it alongside him was something else.

The popcorn nature of city life offered abundant short stories that hung with an indefinite _to be continued_. Without further knowledge they promised to never disappoint.

Indirectly privy to only the interesting points of a stranger’s life meant there was no worry of it weighing against Izaya’s will to continue his love of humanity. Sadly, there was something bothersome about his elation.

As he abbreviated even a huff of laughter, Izaya severed their stare. Just like that, he was back to his window.

His air soaked in melancholy, he choked upon sudden speech.

“You want to believe the best of people. Hope they’ll live in light of their passion, define their motives with romance and add to the glory of humanity. You want to see them grow, evolve, better themselves. You know they're capable of it and wish to aid them.”

Izaya’s delivery was oddly blunt. Stunted.

“You know it doesn't work that way. Of course, people are people, so you both expect and accept it. Perhaps you learn to love it.”

His held pause drew evermore unsure.

“Honestly, it's much more fun to play outside the bounds of Eden, don’t you think?”

Tonally matter of fact, Izaya begged to be convinced of his claim, though the statement was laced with emotion that didn’t sit easy. Izaya centered Shizuo as his audience.

“...it helps me cope, Shizu-chan. For every disappointment in the world there’s a counter. It’s only a matter of if you're willing to look.”

Nonchalantly his hand eased off his cheek to place it on the table; a hint to be noticed.

But Shizuo had already noticed.

He noticed the same silent messages that Izaya did of passersby and did so well before he was asked to, before he was pleaded, and before he was humourlessly laughed at for not.

Adeptly he recognized the emotional baggage that Izaya carried for others, just below his eyes, discoloured and swollen, while his pallor of exhaustion was framed with dark haywire strands.

He paid attention to glossy tear ducts that held back countless yawns and accentuated heaves of his chest to exceed his allotted oxygen.

His raw lips…

sunken shoulders,

skeletal prominence,

janky nails,

malnourished quivers…

All of Izaya’s idiosyncratic tells were picked up and spoke of the final crack of his defiance to appear kept together, and Shizuo had been ready to respond for quite some time. He inched his fingertips closer with due hesitancy, a strategy not to embarrass Izaya with a call to his weakness.

Though the final connection was implemented by Izaya himself with a shy hook of his primary finger around Shizuo’s. The affectionate hold assured that his partner was real and not a part of the gaggle of observations that he kept in his head.

Once more, Shizuo noticed. “I’m willing, you know.”

Izaya’s survey stuttered to a halt. Naturally he wanted the response to be unnecessary, but they both knew that it was needed.

A curtseyed smile lit Izaya back up from his grey presence.  
  
_I know you are._

**Author's Note:**

> Feelings, sensations that you thought were dead...
> 
> A lot of my exhaustion went into this. Lol.
> 
> As always, I love and appreciate comments, feedback, and kudos~  
> ♡ ( ` ∇ ´ ) ♡


End file.
